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1.2.7-Aresnergal
Brick!Club 1.2.7. LE DEDANS DU DÉSESPOIR Am I the first on this one ? It’s 5:30 in the afternoon here and I put the last chapter on this same hour so… yeah. "Le Dedans du Désespoir" means "The inside of Despair" so at least the title is rather fitting. So basically back in jail he began to think about stuff which isn’t very surprising since he does have a brain and I guess there isn’t much else to do when you’re trying to sleep on wooden planks in a cold cell without a blanket. Firstly he does think he was wrong to steal the bread, which, well, yes, I think we already talked about the stupidity of the act especially considering the way he does it. And the fact that he only takes one. An operation which can result in either 1-years of prisons or 2- one super slim meal for 9 persons really isn’t a good one, but obviously he steals so little because Hugo wants to write that next paragraph, which is about how the justice system really overreacted through the roof. On which I think everyone agrees because we are in the 21th century and honestly nowadays I don’t think you’d have to go in prison for that kind of crime, but yeah they weren’t very kind at the time. Especially if you consider that in France you’d pretty much be sentenced to death if you committed another crime after your first arrestation, I’m jumping ahead there, but Champmathieu seriously could have been sentenced to death. I believe they were kind of sending everyone and anyone there far less because “JUSTICE !!11!!!” and really more because “CHEAP WORKING FORCE !!!1!1!!” I’m checking info about the “Bagne” of Toulon though, apparently if you were considered well-behaved it was less horrible, as in they gave blankets and mattress and less work and leave you unchained during the day and stuff, so really, yeah, I think Jean Valjean pre-redemption actually spent his life doing stuff without really thinking about it, from the “Punching through glass for only one bread”, the not-even-trying evasions until the Petit-Gervais part. He’s not really dumb he just really acts on the moment, I guess. Because well, technically not only could he have only spent 5 years, they could have been less uncomfortable to go through. Not blaming him though, i just thought it was interesting to read a little about the way the place worked. Meanwhile Valjean decided to hate society which he blames twice for letting him starve in the first place AND sending him to hell afterwards for a petty theft, and he seems well on the road to turn real bad afterwards considering all the hate he now has in him. Plus putting noob criminals like Valjean among hardened long-time criminals as there surely were with him in the prison generally results in the noobie learning a lot of tricks to become a better criminal later, and anyway with their yellow paper policy you’d be practically encouraged to steal again since you can’t make an honest living with no one wanting you around. Just sayin’. (That’s actually something you still hear about today so I thought I’d bring it up ! ) Oh, and he learn how to read, but we already knew that. And apparently he also hates god now. That’s funny because he becomes ultra-pious later on. Now apparently Valjean looks beyond hope but obviously Hugo wants us to trust him that there’s hope because man is created good amirite, he still has a soul and he can be saved ! I mean we all know he’s the next Jesus figure after the Bishop anyway but yeah. Valjean doesn’t really know how he feels in such an articulate manner though, I guess it’s mostly general feeling of injustice without being able to rationalize it, since he’s “in the darkness”, and his head’s apparently a complete mess, which isn’t really surprising. Actually similar “I barely know what’s going on around me and my train of thought is super-messy” come back later in the story, notably among the Thénardier family, what with the random rambling and the two sisters barely noticing when there’s suddenly less people in the house. So I guess the morality is “suffering makes you kind of an animal living in a blurry haze of general hatred/suffering” At least it explains the stupid escape tentatives that he just wasn’t listening his intelligence as much as his first impulse. Actually reading all that is a little weird because that really didn’t show in his interactions with the bishop, when he’s clumsy but still rather respectful and grateful. Was he lying and secretly hating everyone in the room ? Was he trying to Thénardier there ? (that’s totally a verb for “Oh thanks my benefactor - Omfg those rich people how dare they help us” ) Anyhow that’s not really fun to read because it’s sad. Good thing that Hugo now takes the time of telling us about Jean Valjean’s SUPERPOWERS now ! Those will be of use in the story later ! Notably he has superstrength and can lift super heavy stuff which makes me think that the argousins (well, the guards) were probably more than happy to have him stay longer considering he was stronger than everyone else. I imagine they must have been asking him each time there was something that necessitated a lot of muscle power. “Jean-le-Cric” ( Jean the Jack, I guess it must be in english ?) is a pretty funny nickname too. AND THAT’S NOT AT ALL FORESHADOWING FOR THE WAY HE’LL USE THAT SUPERPOWER LATER ON RIGHT. Another superpower; He has magical agility ! Especially for climbing walls that look like there’s nothing to hold on ! Gee, even Hugo says it seems “magic”. He clearly doesn’t have super speed though, considering he’s outrun by tired bakers. Sadly we’re past the superpowers part and now it’s time for more insights on his feelings, which are hardly happy. Gee, he doesn’t ever laugh, and apparently he’s able to feel the weight of the entire social order on him and well he’s now truly able to do bad action with premeditation, good job prison. Next time : a long-winded boat-and-sea metaphor. Also that’s funny, I think in the chapter before, Hugo tells us that when Valjean begins the trip for the chain gang is the same day that Paris celebrates a victory at Montenotte lead by the “General Buona-Parte” (aka Napoléon) And then he goes out in october 1815, which is the month when Napoléon Bonaparte starts his exile at the isle of Saint Helena. I’m suspecting it was all on purpose.